SYD ARTHUR (UK)

23:00 // PAVILJONKI

Maybe four-five years ago I got the following message:
”i am remixing a band SYD ARTHUR who i love > there you go > get these guys > they’re gonna be big this year and they’re perfect for you !!
check them out on YOU TUBE…i’m doing an ep of their best songs ( from their album/ ep )
check out MORNING’S CALLING / EDGE OF THE WORLD / PARADISE LOST / DOROTHY
great great live band > supporting PAUL WELLER
check em out !! i can’t recommend highly enough !”

It was sent by our mutual friend Gaz of the Future Sound of London fame who had just played at ILMIÖ with Amorphous Androgynous. His taste is infallible, but, of course, things usually take the time they need and now, only half a decade later, it strongly looks like Finland is finally in the cards for Syd Arthur.

How are you doing, Joel? What have you been up to lately?

All is well here in Canterbury. It’s a lovely spring day and I’m at home writing and answering emails. Our cassette versions of our new album Apricot arrive today so I’m excited to see them!

Is Apricot a Freudian slip of Apricity?

Haha. More like bloody spell-check! That always happens…. I did have an apricot yoghurt for breakfast though….

Apricity is a beautiful word to name an album after. I have to admit I had to dust off my old dictionary for the meaning and translation. It’s a rarely used word, I assume? Where did you pump into it?

Yes, Raven knew the word for some reason. When we were recording the album in LA we were staying up in the mountains in Topanga canyon and in the mornings you would feel Apricity before it warmed up. It was surreal as this was a feeling we knew s well from Canterbury. It kept coming back even when we were mixing the album back home. I love the fact its an old rare word too… there must be so many great words out there hidden.

Maybe ’apricity’ is from Canterbury Tales. Have you ever read it? Is it a ”must” at your part of town?

Could be. I haven’t actually read the whole ‘Canterbury Tales’ you know. I have the book and I’ve dipped in and out but the olde english in there is hard to read to to be honest. I know the stories though. I used to live in Harbledowm (small village on the outskirts of Canterbury) which is actually where the Tales end on the Pilgrims way – they never actually make it to Canterbury.

By the way, so cool to hear that cassettes are back and in such a prolific way, outside of the Finnish underground! Though, I get it why no-nonsense people might get annoyed to deal with these ”unnecessary inconveniences” of the past. Were you a tape collector when you were younger?

Yea i used to love cassette singles back when i was a kid. I’v been enjoying the resurgence for a while. Its a cheapish analogue format that has a unique charm of its own and i love them!

I recall you mentioned me earlier that fans, or at least attendees, of our late H2Ö-festival came by for a talk after a Syd show in London or somewhere. It was really surprising and flattering. Especially, if they were complimentary. What was that all about?

Yes, we played in Oxford at the end of last year and after the show 2 Finnish gentlemen came over to talk to us and they said they had been to H2Ö-festival and lived not too far away. I told them that we hoped to do something with you this year and they were really excited at the propsect of us being there! They were very complimentary.